What Do You Mean by "God"?

           The word God is a loaded word because it can mean many things to many people. The meaning of the word has evolved for me, which is why in writing I often put in parenthesis what I mean by God or I write what I mean and put the word God in parenthesis.

With my life-coaching mentorees in the A Course in Miracles community, I typically run into God meaning one of three things primarily—often what a client means by God is a mishmash of two or more of these three things:

 

The Christian Father-God: An anthropomorphized, distant judge, usually stated to be benevolent, but often still feared. No one ever experiences this God, it’s really only a concept. For these students, what occurs in the world is intimately tied to God, so they feel there are right and wrong thoughts and actions, if not morally, at least in terms of what is in line with God. They generally do not think in terms of Truth and illusion or are confused about what is supposed to be an illusion.

 

Consciousness: A student who has read about or has experienced the unity of consciousness or the void of consciousness that is the source of appearances often calls this God. They believe this is the Absolute, Ultimate Reality. They will state things like “we are all one, we are all God” in the recognition that consciousness is the source of all that appears in consciousness.  For some of them, consciousness is Truth, appearances are neutral, and the illusion is ego and its interpretations of appearances. For others, consciousness is Truth, appearances are neutral, but they along with ego are illusions.

 

Reality beyond consciousness: This is what I, and a few other teachers, mean by God.  (Sometimes I use the word Truth in place of Reality.) Something beyond consciousness occurred here, revealing all of consciousness as an illusion, even consciousness before appearances appear.

 

Oh, no one comes to me stating their definition of God, it is something I discern listening to them over time. What does seem universal is that God means the uncreated, the unsourced, the Absolute, which is why what the word God is applied to can vary with one’s experience. If you have not sensed or experienced Reality beyond consciousness, it makes sense that consciousness before appearances appear is the Absolute. If you have not experienced the void of consciousness before appearances appear or Reality beyond consciousness, then it is reasonable that your definition of the Absolute is intellectual and conceptual.

Some don’t seem to question what they mean by God. They have a sense of Something that they do not stop to define or analyze, so what they mean by God can shift with moods or experiences or what they’ve read or heard. Their God is contradictory or a jumble of two or more of the definitions above. Others struggle with what is Absolute and have not yet come to a firm conclusion.

What, to you, is the Absolute, is God? 

>>>> 

If you have a question the answer to which you feel may be helpful to others, send it to Liz@acimmentor.com and indicate that you want it answered in this newsletter/blog.

Comments

Anonymous said…
. . . the source of my mind’s being, my ‘Amness’ -does that make sense? 🙃
5:53 PM
ACIM Mentor said…
All that matters is if it makes sense to you.
9:11 PM
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